[JURIST] The Northern Ireland Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) [party website] on Monday filed a petition of concern [Assembly backgrounder], effectively blocking the region’s fifth attempt at legalizing same-sex marriage. The matter came to a vote Monday morning in the Northern Ireland Assembly [official website] and was approved by a 53-52 majority [vote details] by the Members of the Legislative Assembly [official report]. However, the DUP filed the petition before debate on the issue began, and the nature of the petition is such that each party must approve the issue by a majority vote before it can become a law. Northern Ireland remains the only part of the UK not to allow same-sex marriage and joins only Italy and Germany as places where same-sex marriage is not allowed in Western Europe.